Next week ‘One Time’ former champion of the world Keith Thurman looks to roll back the years.
He takes on Brock Jarvis in a big fight on Fox Australia and around the world but he has some big prizes ahead.
Speaking to Main Event YouTube before the fight Thurman opened up:
“Right. That’s really why I’m here. I didn’t come all the way over here for Brock Jarvis, you know—that’s a nice little appetizer dish, or, as we say on Broadway, the opening act. Before we really close the curtains, I’d like to rekindle that contract with Tim Tszyu. It was very unfortunate for me—the bicep tear. Three days before his fight against my replacement, Fundora, my surgery had already happened. So, I’m recovering from surgery, and I’m in Los Angeles watching the fight in Vegas. Because of the surgery, I couldn’t make an appearance—I had to stay next to the doctors and my family in LA over there. The same surgeon who did my hand surgery in 2019 did the bicep surgery. It was very unfortunate, of course. It wasn’t the match that Tim Tszyu was looking for—he had an unfortunate cut, it was a close fight, he toughed it out, but he didn’t win the fight. Then, later in the year, he took a very devastating loss. I think he was trying to make too big of a statement coming to America—they had high hopes for him, trying to make him a world-class superstar. I think they should’ve pumped the brakes—against Bakhram Murtazaliev, the Russian champion. I think that was an unnecessary matchup. He was just a champion, had his first loss—he could’ve had a comeback fight. But instead, his team chose to make him a champion again, right? Make him another champion overnight. They thought this guy was an easy pick, but when I saw the tape, I saw he had a completely different style from Fundora—threw a lot more power shots. Fundora was just staying away, being very cautious, using his reach and certain advantages. It wasn’t entertaining, but the Russian can fight. I think they really just underestimated the styles in the matchup and were pushing Tszyu to do great things, and it backfired on the team. But he’s recovered now, and he wants to do something great in the sport of boxing again. He has his comeback fight, I have my comeback fight. After these two fights, if we can come back here and still do Thurman versus Tszyu, I think it’d still be a great matchup for the fans. As I get back into action in 2025, after that, I’ll go back to America and just attack the whole world of boxing—let them know that Keith Thurman’s back. I’ve got my opening act, then I close the curtains on Tszyu, and then I’ll just be looking at the world of boxing once again, saying, “Who’s next?”
Thurman is certainly a man who believes in himself and he is only doing that on form of years gone by and his preparation for this fight currently.
He can’t afford to get too over confident though as the hurt business is brutal and at that level anything can happen if a boxer has an off night.
Brock Jarvis is about nine years younger than him as well and Thurman comes into this fight basically only boxing twice in five and a half years.
That is a lot of time off away from the prize fighting business — for anyone — and he’s had all the surgery too.
That said, Thurman is in a good place mentally and he looks to have paid the price in the gym big time.
